Court Summons for Finance Debt

[Guelder]

I'm posting this on behalf of a relative and it's a bit of a long winded story so please bear with me...

About 2/3 years ago a cousin of mine was buying a TV from a well known electrical store. They had intended to pay for the TV with their credit card however the salesman at the store really pushed the finance option on them telling them that they'd get 12 months interest free etc... So long story short they agreed and felt that this would be a good offer to take advantage of.

However, when the salesman heard that my cousin was a student who wasn't working they said there was no way they would get approved for finance so suggested that their parent take on the finance agreement to which they agreed.

The parent was there with them and applied for and was approved for the finance agreement. The parent signed off on all the documents however it was the daughters bank account details that were being used to fund the direct debits every month.

Cue a few months later and family start receiving threatening phone calls from well known finance company (who are now no longer in Ireland) demanding payments be made - payments always were made. They were coming out of the daughters bank account.

Family always told reps on the phone that direct debits were being made as per agreement and gave them the daughters name and bank account number along with dates and amounts paid. Various reps would confirm this info over the phone and promise to update their system to show that all payments were current and up-to-date, however this never happened and a few days later threatening phone calls would once again commence..

This happened over a period of a few months - payments were being debited from daughters account on time every month as per agreement - Finance company failed to see/recognise this for whatever reason and kept insisting no payments had been made. Cue more threatening phone calls, more promises to look into it, and once again nothing was ever done and the phone calls kept coming...

In the end the Finance company refused to acknowledge that any sum had been paid off and sent a debt collection agency after the family. P*ssed off big time by now, that despite paying every month that the finance company had set a debt collection agency after them unfairly, which is when I think the family stopped corresponding with the finance company seeing as they weren't playing fair and they were being constantly pushed from tom, dick to harry and they weren't acknowledging any monies received.

So now the father has received a court summons to appear in court over this debt seeing as he was the one who signed the finance agreement.

The finance company are looking for the entire amount for which the finance agreement was originally taken out for - despite the daughter already having paid off X amount. The finance company can't seem to get their head around the fact that the money is coming from the daughters account despite the father signing up for the finance.

They're sick to the teeth of it all at this stage now and I know the father is sick with worry as he's never been summonsed to court for anything before, I'd love it if I could help them out and give some advice but I have no idea as I've never been in a situation like this before.

Can they just hand back the TV now? They have the money to pay the bill however the fact is X amount has already been paid off and finance company haven't acknowledged this and are still chasing for the original amount...

Any advice or information at all re: this matter would be greatly appreciated folks as I don't know what to tell them!

Thanks folks

 

[ney001]

Hey,

The daughter presumably will have bank statements proving that the amount has been paid! I would get copies of these and send by registered post to the finance company detailing each & every payment made. You cannot argue with this!. Then surely you can just pay off the balance owed and any accrued interest.

Note - Is you friend sure that the daughter has actually paid the installments? -Wouldn't be the first time a student drank money meant to pay a bill?

 

[Vanilla]

He should reply to them in writing by registered post ( to the solicitors if they are on record), show proof of the payments, and tell them that if he has to go to court about this he will hire a solicitor to defend the action and will pursue them for his costs. There is a time limit on the court summons within which he has to enter an appearance - he should be careful to enter the appearance unless they agree in writing not to pursue it.

 

[Guelder]

Thanks for the replies!

Yes - the daughter most definitely did make payments as per the agreement - it was only after a few months of paying and the finance company insisting that no payments were ever made did the daughter stop as she felt she was throwing good money after bad seeing as the finance company would not acknowledge any monies received.

The two have previously written to the finance company concerned and have provided copies of bank statements showing direct debits made, however each time the finance company would promise to look into the matter and rectify it immediately - however within a few hours a different rep would be on the phone again threatening legal action over missing payments - which were in fact made.

So the situation now stands that the father owes entire original amount + late fees + interest + court expenses

Whilst X amount that daughter has paid appears to have vanished into thin air and has not brought down the original amount, finance company refuse to acknowledge her payments in the past..

 

[Vanilla]

So actually she stopped paying, then.

If that's the case there is a debt due, the only question is how much.

It should be the original amount less the amount paid plus legal costs to date.

 

[ney001]

If she stopped paying after a few months then the bulk of the payment is still owed in addition to the interest over the 2/3 years. Realistically, how much could she have payed off over a few months?

Maybe just approach the company with proof of the payments made & ask them to agree a settlement figure!.

 

[Danniboo7]

Hey,

Is it possible finance company has directed these funds to the wrong account on their end. Ask them to double check. Also have you seen the daughters bank statements. Is it possible she hasn't been paying and is too freaked out to say anything to her father? Also, if she is a student why would she be taking out finance to buy a lavish tv. You can pick a portable up for 30e or 40e.